U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on Sunday denied former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's efforts to avoid a jury trial in the defamation lawsuit brought by Georgia election workers. The judge previously found Giuliani liable of defaming election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, with a trial slated to begin next week. In the wake of the 2020 election, Giuliani claimed that Moss and Freeman were seen on video improperly pulling ballots from a suitcase and claiming it was proof of Trump's widely debunked election fraud conspiracy theories. Moss and Freeman testified to the House Jan. 6 committee that they faced numerous threats and were forced to flee their home.
"Giuliani’s position that the long-standing jury demand in this case was extinguished when he was found liable on plaintiffs’ claims by default, is wrong as a matter of law," Howell wrote in the order. "Regardless of whether federal procedural rules and the civil jury right under the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution so require, a jury may properly hear the damages component of plaintiffs’ case." In July, Giuliani conceded that he did not contest his claims about Freeman and Moss. After asking Giuliani to clarify, Howell issued a default judgment against him "as a discovery sanction" and also ordered him "to reimburse plaintiffs for attorneys' fees and costs." In a footnote, Howell scolded the former New York City mayor for claiming that Freeman and Moss "had the opportunity to forego any of the pretrial work to prepare for a jury trial" once Giuliani notified them he was seeking a bench trial. "This is simply nonsense," Howell wrote.
"The judges' biases and prejudices are well known and have been demonstrated throughout this case and many others—where the process is the punishment. In the fullness of time, this will be looked at as one of the darkest chapters in America's justice system and the District of Columbia—unfortunately—is at the core of much of it," Giuliani's political advisor Ted Goodman said in a statement. "Members of the legal community—across the partisan political spectrum—should stand up and speak out against the weaponization of our justice system against political opponents. It might be President Trump, Mayor Giuliani, and others you disagree with politically today, but it could be you and people who share your partisan positions tomorrow."
